Creating communications excellence

In the evolving landscape of technology and health, as society grapples with unprecedented health challenges, technological innovation is more important than ever. Notably, artificial intelligence (AI) has taken centre stage in recent times, already showing promise across healthcare, accelerating the drug discovery process and improving efficiency in diagnoses. But is AI moving too fast?

Interest in AI from the public health sector has been relatively recent. From our perspective, and clients we work with, we’ve had little to do with AI so far; it’s only over the last six to 12 months that our public health clients have become interested. There’s huge potential for AI across the sector, in streamlining operations and supply chains, healthcare distribution and logistics. Many of our public health clients are looking to AI to rapidly assess where need might be greatest for humanitarian aid or vaccine distribution. Improving supply chain management is important for these organisations, especially in the African region, which reports the heaviest burden of public health emergencies globally.

However, we must proceed with caution. There are significant challenges around the extent to which systems comply with humanitarian law, which is fundamental to these organisations. Concerningly, AI can also be subject to bias. From a creative perspective, we’ve found a series of biases, consistently shifted towards the global north.

From a technological standpoint, AI may be moving faster than companies and governments can effectively regulate.  Regulating AI is complex and, though it is undoubtedly necessary, it’s not easy. Striking the balance in an unregulated AI space, especially for scientists using these algorithms, is going to pose unique challenges.

What does this mean for the future of AI in public health?  People remain sceptical about governments’ ability to keep pace; can they trust governments to enforce regulation that will make them feel safe within this unknown space?

Hope may come from the apparent biases in AI. What do these biases tell us about our culture? Flipping the coin, can AI help us learn more about our true selves so that we can become better equipped to proactively manage our health and future?

References are available on request.

Davide Scalenghe is Head of Global Public Health at Edelman and Satyen Dayal is Managing Director at Edelman London’s Technology Practice